.TH trace 8  "2016-02-18" "USER COMMANDS"
.SH NAME
trace \- Trace a function and print its arguments or return value, optionally evaluating a filter. Uses Linux eBPF/bcc.
.SH SYNOPSIS
.B trace [-h] [-b BUFFER_PAGES] [-p PID] [-L TID] [--uid UID] [-v] [-Z STRING_SIZE] [-S] [-M MAX_EVENTS] [-t]
         [-u] [-T] [-C] [-c CGROUP_PATH] [-n NAME] [-f MSG_FILTER] [-B] [-s SYM_FILE_LIST] [-K] [-U] [-a]
         [-I header] [-A]
         probe [probe ...]

.SH DESCRIPTION
trace probes functions you specify and displays trace messages if a particular
condition is met. You can control the message format to display function
arguments and return values.

Since this uses BPF, only the root user can use this tool.
.SH REQUIREMENTS
CONFIG_BPF and bcc.
.SH OPTIONS
.TP
\-h
Print usage message.
.TP
\-p PID
Trace only functions in the process PID.
.TP
\-L TID
Trace only functions in the thread TID.
.TP
\--uid UID
Trace only functions from user UID.
.TP
\-v
Display the generated BPF program, for debugging purposes.
.TP
\-z STRING_SIZE
When collecting string arguments (of type char*), collect up to STRING_SIZE
characters. Longer strings will be truncated.
.TP
\-s SYM_FILE_LIST
When collecting stack trace in build id format, use the comma separated list for
symbol resolution.
.TP
\-S
If set, trace messages from trace's own process. By default, this is off to
avoid tracing storms -- for example, if you trace the write system call, and
consider that trace is writing to the standard output.
.TP
\-M MAX_EVENTS
Print up to MAX_EVENTS trace messages and then exit.
.TP
\-t
Print times relative to the beginning of the trace (offsets), in seconds.
.TP
\-u
Print UNIX timestamps instead of offsets from trace beginning, requires -t.
.TP
\-T
Print the time column.
.TP
\-C
Print CPU id.
.TP
\-c CGROUP_PATH
Trace only functions in processes under CGROUP_PATH hierarchy.
.TP
\-n NAME
Only print process names containing this name.
.TP
\-f MSG_FILTER
Only print message of event containing this string.
.TP
\-B
Treat argument of STRCMP helper as a binary value
.TP
\-K
Print the kernel stack for each event.
.TP
\-U
Print the user stack for each event.
.TP
\-a
Print virtual address in kernel and user stacks.
.TP
\-I header
Additional header files to include in the BPF program. This is needed if your
filter or print expressions use types or data structures that are not available
in the standard headers. For example: 'linux/mm.h'
.TP
\-A
Print aggregated amount of each trace. This should be used with -M/--max-events together.
.TP
probe [probe ...]
One or more probes that attach to functions, filter conditions, and print
information. See PROBE SYNTAX below.
.SH PROBE SYNTAX
The general probe syntax is as follows:

.B [{p,r}]:[library]:function[+offset][(signature)] [(predicate)] ["format string"[, arguments]]

.B {t:category:event,u:library:probe} [(predicate)] ["format string"[, arguments]]
.TP
.B {[{p,r}],t,u}
Probe type \- "p" for function entry, "r" for function return, "t" for kernel
tracepoint, "u" for USDT probe. The default probe type is "p".
.TP
.B [library]
Library containing the probe.
Specify the full path to the .so or executable file where the function to probe
resides. Alternatively, you can specify just the lib name: for example, "c"
refers to libc. If no library name is specified, the kernel is assumed. Also,
you can specify an executable name (without a full path) if it is in the PATH.
For example, "bash".
.TP
.B category
The tracepoint category. For example, "sched" or "irq".
.TP
.B function
The function to probe.
.B offset
The offset after the address of the function where the probe should injected.
For example "kfree_skb+56" in decimal or hexadecimal "kfree_skb+0x38" format.
Only works with kprobes and uprobes. Zero if omitted.
.TP
.B signature
The optional signature of the function to probe. This can make it easier to
access the function's arguments, instead of using the "arg1", "arg2" etc.
argument specifiers. For example, "(struct timespec *ts)" in the signature
position lets you use "ts" in the filter or print expressions.
.TP
.B event
The tracepoint event. For example, "block_rq_complete".
.TP
.B probe
The USDT probe name. For example, "pthread_create".
.TP
.B [(predicate)]
The filter applied to the captured data. Only if the filter evaluates as true,
the trace message will be printed. The filter can use any valid C expression
that refers to the argument values: arg1, arg2, etc., or to the return value
retval in a return probe. If necessary, use C cast operators to coerce the
arguments to the desired type. For example, if arg1 is of type int, use the
expression ((int)arg1 < 0) to trace only invocations where arg1 is negative.
Note that only arg1-arg6 are supported, and only if the function is using the
standard x86_64 convention where the first six arguments are in the RDI, RSI,
RDX, RCX, R8, R9 registers. If no predicate is specified, all function
invocations are traced.

The predicate expression may also use the STRCMP pseudo-function to compare
a predefined string to a string argument. For example: STRCMP("test", arg1).
The order of arguments is important: the first argument MUST be a quoted
literal string, and the second argument can be a runtime string, most typically
an argument.
.TP
.B ["format string"[, arguments]]
A printf-style format string that will be used for the trace message. You can
use the following format specifiers: %s, %d, %u, %lld, %llu, %hd, %hu, %c,
%x, %llx -- with the same semantics as printf's. Make sure to pass the exact
number of arguments as there are placeholders in the format string. The
format specifier replacements may be any C expressions, and may refer to the
same special keywords as in the predicate (arg1, arg2, etc.).

In addition to the above format specifiers, you can also use %K and %U when
the expression is an address that potentially points to executable code (i.e.,
a symbol). trace will resolve %K specifiers to a kernel symbol, such as
vfs__read, and will resolve %U specifiers to a user-space symbol in that
process, such as sprintf.

In tracepoints, both the predicate and the arguments may refer to the tracepoint
format structure, which is stored in the special "args" variable. For example, the
block:block_rq_complete tracepoint can print or filter by args->nr_sector. To
discover the format of your tracepoint, use the tplist tool.

In USDT probes, the arg1, ..., argN variables refer to the probe's arguments.
To determine which arguments your probe has, use the tplist tool.

The predicate expression and the format specifier replacements for printing
may also use the following special keywords: $pid, $tgid to refer to the
current process' pid and tgid; $uid, $gid to refer to the current user's
uid and gid; $cpu to refer to the current processor number.
.SH EXAMPLES
.TP
Trace all invocations of the open system call with the name of the file (from userspace) being opened:
#
.B trace '::do_sys_open """%s"", arg2@user'
.TP
Trace all invocations of the read system call where the number of bytes requested is greater than 20,000:
#
.B trace '::sys_read (arg3 > 20000) """read %d bytes"", arg3'
.TP
Trace all malloc calls and print the size of the requested allocation:
#
.B trace ':c:malloc """size = %d"", arg1'
.TP
Trace returns from the readline function in bash and print the return value as a string:
#
.B trace 'r:bash:readline """%s"", retval'
.TP
Trace the block:block_rq_complete tracepoint and print the number of sectors completed:
#
.B trace 't:block:block_rq_complete """%d sectors"", args->nr_sector'
.TP
Trace the pthread_create USDT probe from the pthread library and print the address of the thread's start function:
#
.B trace 'u:pthread:pthread_create """start addr = %llx"", arg3'
.TP
Trace the nanosleep system call and print the sleep duration in nanoseconds:
#
.B trace 'p::SyS_nanosleep(struct timespec *ts) "sleep for %lld ns", ts->tv_nsec'
.TP
Trace the inet_pton system call using build id mechanism and print the stack
#
.B trace -s /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libc.so.6,/bin/ping 'p:c:inet_pton' -U
.SH SOURCE
This is from bcc.
.IP
https://github.com/iovisor/bcc
.PP
Also look in the bcc distribution for a companion _examples.txt file containing
example usage, output, and commentary for this tool.
.SH OS
Linux
.SH STABILITY
Unstable - in development.
.SH AUTHOR
Sasha Goldshtein
